SBP Launches Comprehensive Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) System

The Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP) has today published a new suite of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) documents, marking a significant step forwards in strengthening the evidence base, transparency and continuous improvement of its certification scheme.

Carsten Huljus, SBP Chief Executive Officer, commented: “The publication of these documents reflects SBP’s commitment to strengthening the evidence base behind our certification scheme. Our MEL System enables us to better understand our impacts, test our assumptions and continuously improve, ensuring that our work remains credible, transparent and effective.”

SBP’s MEL System supports its Purpose and Strategic Aims by generating the information needed to understand the performance, outcomes and effectiveness of the certification scheme. It provides a structured and organisation‑wide approach to tracking progress towards intended impacts, assessing the validity of SBP’s Theory of Change, and supporting learning and improvement across the scheme. 

The newly published MEL Guiding Framework sits at the centre of this system. It explains how SBP plans, implements and maintains its MEL activities, setting out the underlying principles, governance arrangements and processes that ensure a consistent, credible and proportionate approach to evidence generation. The framework establishes a system built on continuous monitoring, targeted research, learning and system development, and the communication of findings, ensuring that insights generated through MEL activities are translated into informed decision‑making and ongoing scheme improvement. 

Alongside the Guiding Framework, SBP has published the MEL Interested and Impacted Parties (IIP) Hypothesis. This document provides a structured analytical framework for identifying the people and organisations who may be interested in, or affected by, SBP‑influenced biomass sourcing practices. It sets out SBP’s current hypotheses on how the scheme’s influence reaches these groups, the potential benefits and risks involved, and the barriers that may limit meaningful engagement. Reflecting the complexity and indirect nature of certification schemes, the IIP Hypothesis is explicitly designed as a living document that will be tested, refined and updated over time as evidence is generated through MEL activities. 

The third document published today, the MEL Research Ethics Guidelines, establishes the ethical framework governing all MEL activities conducted or commissioned by SBP that involve individuals or identifiable groups. Primarily based on the ESRC Framework for Research Ethics, the guidelines set out principles for informed and voluntary participation, the protection of privacy and confidentiality, and the safeguarding of vulnerable populations. They also introduce a risk‑based approach to ethics review, ensuring that all MEL activities are conducted responsibly, with appropriate safeguards and accountability in place. 

Together, these documents form the foundation of the SBP MEL System, linking strategy, data and learning in a coherent and transparent structure. The system enables SBP to monitor performance, identify unintended effects, test key assumptions and continuously improve the effectiveness of its certification scheme. It also strengthens accountability by providing stakeholders with a clearer understanding of how SBP generates and uses evidence to support its claims about sustainability performance. 

The MEL System represents an important milestone in SBP’s ongoing development. By embedding a rigorous and ethical approach to monitoring, evaluation and learning, SBP is reinforcing its commitment to evidence based decision making, transparency and continuous improvement across its certification scheme. Initial outputs are expected from 2027, with key findings communicated through SBP’s Annual Review and other public outputs, further strengthening transparency and accountability.

Learn more: https://sbp-cert.org/monitoring-evaluation-and-learning-system/